SportsDirect.com – the UK’s number one, or so they would have you believe. Does that mean number one employers? Certainly not.
As a casual sales assistant (or “Cast”), I am employed on a zero-hour contract basis. By definition, this means that I am not guaranteed to be offered work, although equally I am not obliged to accept any hours offered.
In reality, however, it doesn’t work like that at all at Sports Direct. If you are given hours, you are expected to work them or find cover for your shift. You are told that refusal to do so could lead to being sacked.
The zero-hour contract also means that hours can be hugely inconsistent. In the past I have been offered just three to four hours work a week, over a period lasting more than a month, before suddenly being given more than 20 hours the following week.
It has been argued that the structure of a zero-hour contract allows for greater flexibility for students, but the reality of the matter is that many young workers are exploited due to their low wage costs and the fear that turning down work might result in them being sacked or given reduced hours.
This fear factor is ingrained into the whole culture of Sports Direct. There is constant pressure from managers to sell bags and magazines if you are operating tills – or to sell insoles if you are working in the shoes department. If you do not meet the target, then this is classed as a fail for the day and often a stern lecture from the managers.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the managers are bad people, the culture of fear, pressure and unrealistic expectations have become the norm across the company. It is also extremely intimidating for zero-hour workers, who often feel unable to question managers and you frequently feel that staff who are liked more by the management are given more hours, regardless of their actual ability.
There is then the threat of the strike system. Sports Direct’s Shirebrook warehouse operates a “six strikes and you’re out” policy where you can be fired for accumulating black marks for offences such as a “period of reported sickness”, “errors” or “excessive/long toilet breaks”.
In the shops, I was informed in an early shift that it would be just three strikes before dismissal. In an early shift I was threatened with a strike after failing to sell insoles. I was told it was a contractual requirement, despite there being no mention of either the strike system or the obligation to sell insoles within the contract itself.
Another part of the culture at stores includes the promotion of in-house Sports Direct brands such as Karrimor, Dunlop and Lonsdale. While this may be expected, it often feels like we are being forced to mislead customers by being instructed to “upsell” customers from other brands such as Adidas and Nike to Sports Direct equivalents. Our commission scheme means that you mostly only receive money on the Sports Direct brands. It may be an effective way to encourage the home-brand promotion, but it often results in exaggerated claims or at times, outright lies.
This lack of professionalism extends to the overall atmosphere within the workplace, which is demonstrated by the differing treatment of people and the general attitudes and priorities of managers. The relationship between sales assistant and manager has a tendency to be one of fear rather than respect, and this of course has a detrimental effect on the morale and efficiency of workers. No matter how hard we may be working, we still face harsh criticism and constant pressure from managers when their targets are not met. Praise is extremely rare.
This imbalance in the relationship between staff and managers is also reflected in the lack of certainty in finishing time, particularly during “closedown” shifts where everyone is required to tidy, clean and stock up the shop floor once it is shut. While we may be given a certain finish time on our rotas, this is never adhered to and we can end up working for over an hour after this time. You fear that any refusal to do so may lead to being sacked. It’s unclear as to whether we are paid for every minute worked here, as pay slips merely state a block of hours.
Yet one of the key issues and most disheartening matters for workers is the attitude of Mike Ashley, who repeatedly distances himself from current problems in the stores. He claimed that a review into working practices would never be complete. However, it is tough to see evidence of any progress. And the issues that he claims to have solved? They’re still there.
For example, he stated that docking 15 minutes’ pay for being a minute late to work was “unacceptable” and that it had been amended. However, this threat of pay deduction is actually written into my contract and is still in enforcement.
The requirement for shop workers to undergo a search after clocking out remains another issue, as they are forced to remain on site without being paid for their time.
A regular complaint from customers is that workers haven’t been trained properly and this is true. While you will undergo an induction to work at Sports Direct, there is a lack of thorough training for most staff members who are instead expected to learn mostly from experience. This is extremely challenging, particularly for the many people for whom this is their first job and leads to a general lack of efficiency. Often, there have been situations where I was scoffed at by senior staff for not knowing vital pieces of information – things that I was simply expected to know but never actually told.
However, the fellow casual workers are all generally helpful, generous and friendly people who are in the same boat. When first starting the job this is absolutely vital as the tips and advice from colleagues have to make up for the lack of training.
Mike Ashley’s letter to the Guardian
Ashley told the Guardian that he was not aware of workers being told that they can be sacked if they do not work the hours their manager gives to them, or that Sports Direct’s shop staff have a contract which threatens to deduct pay for arriving late.
He denied that: there is a fear factor ingrained into the whole culture of Sports Direct; that some shop workers are told they can be dismissed for three misdemeanours; that workers sometimes feel under pressure to mislead customers and the commission scheme only incentivises them to sell Sports Direct brands; that finish times on rotas are not adhered to; that there is inadequate training and that the company has been paying shop workers less than the legal minimum.
